Avian diversity is used to assess the functionality of diverse types of habitats around Salt Lake Djendli, Northeast Algeria. The landscape is stratified into five habitat types in a gradient from wetland to forested mountains. Bird species found in these habitats can be classified into four ecological groups with decreasing degrees of aquatic specialisation and increasing forest specialisation. For each surveyed species, five ecological status were assigned. Overall, there was lower species richness in urban areas compared to other “natural” habitats. Birds have a biogeographical affinity to the western Palaearctic according to the dominant faunal types. Interactions of ecological status with phenological traits reveal that water birds are different from non-aquatic species because most of them are migrants. Moreover, overall, there is no worrying conservation status for surveyed birds. Bird diet is dependent on the ecological status that differentiate bird groups from each other due to differences in the food resources of the habitats they frequent. Phenological categories tend to link together birds of urban and open-lands. These two groups are affected by seasonal human activities. Our findings emphasise the importance of using combinations within the birds’ ecological status, which would give information on the actual state of avifauna. This approach is relevant for future programmes and conservation actions.

Following several decades of unsuccessful attempts at locating breeding colonies of the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in Algeria, breeding was recorded on a natural islet of Garaet Ezzemoul, a seasonal salt lake near the town of Aïn M'lila in the Hauts Plateaux. This successful mass breeding event by at least 5 379 breeding pairs followed two failed attempts due to human disturbance at the same site during preceding years. Egg-laying started relatively late (mid-May) with precocious pairs nesting in the middle of the islet and at a higher nest density. Estimated breeding success was notably high (∼5 000 chicks) with apparent good hatching rate and chick survival. Ring sightings indicated that the breeding population was made up in part of adults born in Spain, France and Sardinia, supporting evidence of a metapopulation of nomadic birds breeding and wintering across the Mediterranean Basin. Garaet Ezzemoul does not benefit from any conservation status and is not labelled as a Ramsar site in contr...

The Turtle Dove and Laughing Dove display distinct behavior and are morphologically and genetically different. However, microhabitat selection and reproductive success details of the two species are still poorly studied. The geographic distribution of the Laughing Dove in North Africa has clearly expanded nowadays. The breeding ecology and nest placement of this species have been studied previously, but little is currently known about its life history in Algeria. This study aimed to provide the basic information on the breeding biology of the Laughing Dove in Algeria. During two consecutive breeding seasons (2013–2014), the clutch size, brood size, chick survival, timing of breeding, densities of breeding pairs, nest placement, and the main causes of nest failure of the sympatric Laughing Dove and Turtle Dove were studied in an olive orchard in Guelma region, northeast Algeria. Clutch size, brood size, chick survival, the estimated productivity, and nest placement of the two species were similar but timing of breeding and population densities were significantly different. Finally, the largely coincident egg-laying period and the similar clutch size of the two species seem to be the main factors behind their similar survival rate and productivity in our study area. Paprastieji ir mažieji purpleliai skiriasi morfologiškai, genetiškai ir elgesiu. Šių rūšių veisimosi sėkmė ir mikrobuveinių pasirinkimas ištirti nepakankamai. Apie mažojo purplelio biologiją ir ekologiją Alžyre žinių trūksta, nors rūšies geografinis paplitimas Šiaurės Afrikoje plečiasi. Tyrimo tikslas – apibendrinti informaciją apie mažojo purplelio perėjimo biologiją Alžyre. Guelmo regione (Šiaurės Rytų Alžyras) 2013–2014 metų perėjimo sezonų metu alyvmedžių sode buvo tirti simpatriškai gyvenančių mažųjų ir paprastųjų purplelių dėties ir vados dydžiai, jauniklių išgyvenamumas, perėjimo laikas, perinčių porų tankumas, lizdų vietos pasirinkimas ir nesėkmingo perėjimo priežastys. Dėties ir vados dydžiai, jauniklių išgyvenamumas, vislumas ir lizdaviečių pasirinkimas buvo panašūs, tačiau perėjimo laikas ir populiacijos tankumas reikšmingai skyrėsi. Panašų šių paukščių rūšių išgyvenamumą ir vislumą tirtame regione veikiausiai nulemia sutampantis kiaušinių dėjimo laikas ir panašus dėties dydis.

Every year, the Coastal wetlands of North Africa support an important wintering waterbird population of many Palearctic and sub-Saharan species of various contrasting habitat requirements. In this study, we describe the habitat use by24 water-obligate species wintering in a coastal wetland of the Northeastern Algeria (the wetland of Lake Tonga), highlighting thereby the ecological mechanisms that support their coexistence and their resources partitioning. The analysis of resource exploitation (Relative frequency, Feinsinger niche breadth, Pianka niche overlap and Ivlev’s electivity indexes) showed that waterbird species inhabiting the lake wetland have several similarities in using the different habitat categories, which lead us to cluster them into 5 guilds (G1: one rails, two grebes and eight ducks; G2: five wading species and one gull; G3: three herons; G4: cormorants, mallards, and on gull; finally, G5: only one species Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis).Almost all the species were specialists in resource utilization patterns (narrow niche breadths, both under 0.3) and therefore, vulnerable to fluctuations in resources, particularly the feeding habitats. Mean niche overlaps for all the pairs of species ranged from 0.05 to 0.68. The overall pattern in the community was higher niche overlaps between the species of a particular guild than those between other species. According to Ivlev’s electivity index, we found that only three microhabitats from seven were the most important for the discussed species, open water body was the most attractive, followed by meadows, muddy areas and floating- leafed vegetation. Similarities on habitat requirements derived from our region can provide important and optimal wetland management at multi-species assemblage level for this wetland and similar area around the African coast.